Which Malagasy carnivore to like best usually centers on the lemur or mongoose. Madagascar is worth the trip. But the ring-tailed mongoose also may be admired in the Bronx Zoo.

Scientists assert that 98% of the wildlife species on the Indian Ocean island of Madagascar can be found existing natively nowhere else on the Blue Planet. They attribute to contrary weather and geographical isolation the pivotal factors in the emergence and persistence of Malagasy fauna and flora.

Movies and television generally convince Earthlings non-native to or unfamiliar with Madagascar that the lemur is the best-known and most high-profile example of biodiversity on the world’s fourth-largest island.

But the honor actually goes to the ring-tailed mongoose. Madagascar has a number of protected areas with which to enchant wildlife-loving locals, researchers, and visitors. The ring-tailed mongoose is present in many of the island’s most accessible, popular parks and reserves.

ring-tailed mongoose in captivity

Zoologists call the ring-tailed mongoose Galidia elegans. The genus name comes from a myth preserved by poet Publius Ovidius Naso (March 20, 43 B.C. – A.D. 18) in Book IX of Metamorphoses (Metamorphoseon libri). The story deals with the golden-tinted redhead serving girl Galanthias (Γαλινθιάς) whom super-goddess Hera turns into a weasel for ensuring the birth of super-hero Heracles to Alcmene and super-god Zeus. The species name derives from the Latin adjective ēlegāns for “elegant.” The scientific name is joined by such common names as:

Malagasy ring-tailed mongoose and ring-tailed mongoose in English;

Mangouste à queue annelée (“mangoose with ringed tail”) in French;

Vontsira mena (“red weasel”) in Malagasy.

The plural forms for mongoose include:

Mongaggle;

Mongeese;

Mongooses.

Researchers currently acknowledge three subspecies for the ring-tailed mongoose:

Galidia elegans elegans in eastern Madagascar;

G.e. dambrensis in northern Madagascar;

G.e. occidentalis in central and western Madagascar.

Membership in one subspecies over another answers to differences in geographical distribution and variations in body color. All subspecies nevertheless are recognizable by:

Mating seasons, which are hypothesized as conducted monogamously, begin in April and end in November. Gestation periods can last 52 – 91 days. Each mother delivers one newborn -- who looks like a miniature adult -- between July and February. Three hundred and sixty-five (365) days distance each litter until each set of parents typically has a total of 3 offspring. Offspring exhibit birth weights of 1.76 ounces (49.9 grams) and weaning weights of 6.44 ounces (182.62 grams). They experience the joy of taking their first steps 2 weeks after birth. If the mother approves, the father first interacts with the latest addition to the family after the most recent offspring completes 1 month in the maternally-dug birthing-burrow.

Each newborn achieves physical maturity -- in terms of adult shapes and sizes – a year after birth. But offspring do not leave the family unit for another year. They enjoy traveling around during the day in family groups typically configured as:

Father;

Mother;

3 “sub-adults.”

But they also have to dominate an extensive set of vocalizations, such as:

At age 2, offspring attain sexual maturity. They depart from the arboreal and terrestrial shelters of parents and younger siblings to start their own families on home ranges typically sized 0.077 square miles (0.2 square kilometers). They display the adult dimensions of:

12.5 – 15 inches (31.75 – 38.1 centimeters) in head-and-body length;

10.6 – 12.6 inches (26.92 – 32 centimeters) in tail length;

24.69 – 31.75 ounces (700 – 900 grams) in weight.

They emerge daily in small groups formed by peers to:

Exercise;

Explore;

Forage;

Groom;

Play;

Socialize.

Newly-independent offspring generally face the lesser challenge of fewer mouths to feed. It still may be a challenge to locate:

Bird eggs;

Fish (especially freshwater crayfish);

Frogs;

Insects;

Reptiles;

Small mammals (especially tenrecs).

Independence can be succeeded by abbreviated lifespans or lowered standards. For example, specialists consider the typical lifespan for a ring-tailed mongoose as maxxing-out at about 6 – 7 years in the wild and 13 years in captivity. Agro-industry, competition, predation, and tradition contribute to lowering ring-tailed mongoose life expectancy and total population. The beauty of Malagasy space and the diversity of insular resources drive and sustain a host of cultural, economic and recreational endeavors. But clearing agricultural land and felling forest trees fragment and reduce habitats that historically support Madagascar’s diverse wildlife. They jumble predator and prey into closer quarters. They minimize traditional hiding-places for eluding local tribespeople ritually-bound upon obtaining the ring-tailed mongoose’s fur, meat and tail.

Arboreal options, daytime schedules, ground control, and joyous omnivorousness act as key factors in the sustainability of the ring-tailed mongoose. The Malagasy ringtail adapts to many woody configurations:

For example, the ring-tailed mongoose has to control claw and dental overgrowth through digging and gnawing. Regular commitment to building burrows is conducive to aerated, infiltrated and percolated soil pore spaces. Steady consumption of subterranean-, surface- and vegetation-dwelling organisms keeps pests in check. It lets plant roots and soil food web members access nutrients either inaccessible for being insoluble or unavailable for being inside arthropods. Timely coordination of eliminating swallowed seeds with optimal germination locations and times makes it likelier that Madagascar's future will remain lushly verdant.

French zoologist credited with naming of Galidia elegans: a ringtail Malagasy mongoose which he considered to be elegant

Conclusion: Madagascar's ringtail mongoose, still elegant

The year 1837 can be considered felicitous for Malagasy ringtails. Isidore Geoffroy Saint-Hilaire (December 16, 1805 – November 10, 1861) completed their analysis and classification. The Paris-born zoologist excelled at:

Mathematics;

Medicine;

Natural history.

He expounded:

Acclimatization, or adaptations of native and naturalized animals and plants;

Ethology, or animal behavior in nature, not laboratories;

Teratology, or expected and unexpected animal growth patterns.

His legacy is refined by nature-lovers and professionals who sustain the ring-tailed mongoose's researchable, viewable presence in collections worldwide and in such Malagasy protected areas as:

Sources Consulted

Blench, R.M. and Walsh, M. June 27, 2009. Faunal Names in Malagasy: Their Etymologies and Implications for the Prehistory of the East African Coast. Prepared for ICAL IX Aussois, 21-25 June 2009. Retrieved on February 9, 2014.

Available at: http://www.academia.edu/1691463/Faunal_names_in_Malagasy_their_etymologies_and_implications_for_the_prehistory_of_the_East_African_coast

Comments

Mira, Isn't it amazing that there are three acceptable plural forms of "mongoose"? "Mongaggle" seems particularly charming.The rock formations comprise Madagascar's karstic landscape, which is another twist on karstic geomorphology (geographical and geological landforms). They're sculpted by groundwater into these bizarre shapes, for which the Malagasy language term is tsingy, basically meaning "a place where you cannot walk barefoot."

What on earth are those rock formations in that photo of Madagascar? Interesting article, btw! And how curious that I never wondered about the plural of mongoose, a word which I see now has three plural forms!!